Encounter
by Random Phantasm
Summary: AVPStar Wars Crossover. 6 months before Episode I. Starring Darth Maul.
1. Encounter: Part I

ENCOUNTER: PART ONE  
  
A blazing star fell through the night sky of Wayland. It streaked through the darkness and crashed into the forest. A trio of male Psadan set off into the woods to find investigate. They rushed through the trees with their spears, wondering what they would find. They suddenly came across a long scorched trail. The branches of the trees above were broken and smoldering. The blackened soil went into a trench that grew deeper in one direction.  
The Psadan followed the trail. They found the end of it to be a large crater indented on the ground. Embedded in the dirt lay a strange silver object. It glistened in the starlight like a gem, and red lights flashed about its middle. One of the Psadan cautiously approached the object and examined it more closely. A darker spot rested on the side of the object with small lights blinking on it. The Psadan probed it with his spear.  
The shining object hissed, causing the Psadan to start and jump back. Part of the object's side slid out of view and revealed a pitch black interior. The lead Psadan took a torch from one of his companions and looked tentatively into the opening. He died before he saw anything within. The others saw his body jerk and collapse. The torch fell to the dirt as something black and horrible shot out of the object.  
The thing barreled into one of the two remaining Psadan. The poor being cried out in terror as a set of jagged fangs opened and drove into his skull. The creature looked at the remaining Psadan and let out a blood- curdling shriek. Its face dripped with the fresh blood of the two dead Psadan.  
The remaining Psadan screamed and tried to run. The black beast bounded after him and caught him by the leg. It turned him over and pinned him to the ground. The Psadan stared up at the creature in horror as it hissed and dribbled blood on him. He expected the beast's wicked jaws to come crashing down on him at any moment, but they never did. Instead, a warm darkness covered the Psadan's face, and something coiled around his neck. He felt a slimy tendril slither down his throat as he lost consciousness.  
  
The Republic cruiser Crusader came out of hyperspace in the Wayland system. The ship carried a crew of seven Jedi archaeologists. They had spent the past few weeks on Yavin IV studying the ancient Sith temples of Exar Kun. The trip from Coruscant to Yavin either way needed at least one course change. Wayland was a convenient junction point between the two systems.  
The team's human leader, Jedi Master Jarrin Fesh, sat in a flight couch on the Crusader's bridge. With him were a human Jedi Knight named Ortis Lann and his reddish-gold-furred Wookiee apprentice, Chonessinac. Nac sat at the comm terminal, monitoring for any word from the Jedi Council or the Senator in charge of the Sith expedition.  
Nac suddenly let out a quiet bark. Ortis looked over at the Wookiee.  
"What is it, Nac?" he asked.  
Chonessinac said that he was picking up some sort of distress signal from the surface of Wayland. Jarrin got up and eyed the terminal curiously.  
"Any idea what kind of ship it's coming from?" he asked.  
Nac shook his head. What could be the source of a signal like that? There were no settlements on Wayland as far as Jarrin knew, and the surrounding space was rarely traveled.  
"What do we do?" Ortis asked Jarrin. The Jedi Master thought for a moment before answering.  
"I'll contact Coruscant," Jarrin said at last. "You and Nac get the others briefed. We're going down."  
Ortis nodded. He and Nac strode out of the bridge leaving Jarrin alone. Jarrin walked over to the holo terminal. He activated the system, and the holocams hummed and focused. He punched in the communication code he needed. Soon, the small holographic image of a Republic Senator appeared in front of Jarrin.  
"Ah, Master Fesh, how good to hear from you," said the Senator. "I trust you and your team are en route back to Coruscant?"  
"We've had a slight change of schedule, Senator," Jarrin replied. "When we came out of hyperspace to change our course, we picked up a distress signal coming from Wayland."  
"Wayland? I'm not familiar with the planet."  
"The signal is coming from a heavily forested area around a mountain surveyors have named," Jarrin paused to check the comm station screen for the exact name. "The surveyors call it 'Mount Tantiss'. We have decided to respond to the signal before returning to Coruscant."  
"I see. I will inform the Jedi Council of this development at once."  
"That would be most helpful, Senator."  
"Not at all, Master Fesh. May the Force be with you."  
"Thank you, Senator Palpatine."  
  
A small vessel slows down from lightspeed above the planet. The pod's signal emanates from a dense forest around a mountain. It blazes down through the planet's atmosphere and comes to rest in a clearing about one hundred nok from the mountain. The hatch opens with a hiss. The lone huntress, Pyode Setg'-in, emerges from the hatch and looks around. As she makes her way into the trees, Pyode Setg'-in vanishes without a trace.  
  
The apprentice pounded at the sparring droid. The droid's durasteel structure was covered with a thick rubber so one fighting it wouldn't break his or her fists. The apprentice hammered the droid with a flurry of punches. With a mighty spinning kick, he removed the machine's head from its neck. The droid collapsed.  
The apprentice finished his exercise. He had lost no control over his body. His breathing and heart rate had barely risen at all. Even after such a vigorous workout, not even a single drop of sweat was on his flesh. The comm terminal chimed. He walked over to it and immediately kneeled on the transmission pad. The large image of his master's face shimmered into being.  
"What is thy bidding, my master?" the apprentice asked.  
"Seven Jedi are on Wayland," the master replied. "They must not discover the Mount Tantiss Project."  
"Yes, my master."  
The master vanished. The apprentice rose to his feet and donned his black robes. He hooked his weapon to his belt and climbed into his stealth ship. He sat down in the flight couch and flew up out of Coruscant's atmosphere. The ship slipped past the planet's security unnoticed and suddenly shot into hyperspace toward Wayland.  
Darth Maul was on the hunt. 


	2. Encounter: Part II

ENCOUNTER: PART TWO  
  
The Jedi were ready to move out. Jarrin looked at them all for a moment, regarding each one's species and skills. Ortis Lann was not an incredibly powerful Jedi, but his mechanical skills were almost unparalleled. His apprentice, Chonessinac, was a force to be reckoned with in battle. Jarrin remembered that Nac had once sparred with thirty remotes at one time, and not a single shot had gotten through.  
Kinon She'yed was a Bothan Jedi Knight of a good forty-five years' age. His skill with a lightsaber was even too much for Nac's reflexes. Kinon was surpassed in lightsaber skill only by a handful of Jedi Masters. Among the few were Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu, Dooku, and, of course, master Yoda. His apprentice was a young female Zabrak named Sevi Sleen. Sevi was very gifted with Force-empathy. It was virtually impossible to hide emotions from her. The darkness in the Sith Temples of Yavin IV had bombarded her senses the most.  
Jedi Knight Denasha Vec was an alluring female Twi'lek. Her skin was predominantly blue and had purple spots on her shoulders, neck, and lekku. Her special talent was a rare sort of "touch-telepathy." By touching an object, Denasha could see things about its owner or most recent user. Her skill had been incredibly useful on Yavin IV, but the Dark Side presence there had taken quite a toll on her as well. Denasha's human Padawan, Loren Kish, also had the ability. Loren had yet to master her touch- telepathy. Once the gift was awakened in her, she couldn't control how much information came in to her mind. She now wore gloves to prevent such an overload.  
Jarrin himself was a human about two meters in height. In his forty- six years as a Jedi, he'd always been more of a researcher than a warrior. He'd spent most of his life in the Archives learning the history of the galaxy. That was his specialty. Jarrin was able to use the Force to learn extremely quickly and remember everything with crystal clarity.  
The cruiser's landing ramp hissed as it lowered onto the soft grass of Wayland. Six of the Jedi disembarked. Only Ortis remained on board. The Crusader soared back up to a low orbit around the planet. Jarrin and the other Jedi started off into the woods. It didn't take them long to find the scorched line of trees leading to the crash site. They followed the trail to a fairly large crater with a slivery escape pod nestled in one end. The pod's hatch was open, and the pod's outer lights were blinking dimly in the bright sunlight. On the dirt surrounding the pod were many splotches of what appeared to be drying blood. Several sets of humanoid tracks let to and from the pod. The tracks leaving seemed to be headed toward Mount Tantiss.  
"Nac, Sevi, Kinon," Jarrin said, "you come with me. We're going to look for survivors. Danasha, you and Loren check out the pod."  
Denasha nodded, and the other Jedi set off following the trail. The Twi'lek and her Padawan cautiously entered the craft. Loren quickly found a control switch to illuminate the dark interior. That interior was covered in many places by an intricate layer of some kind of coral-like material. Denasha went to inspect the flight controls as Loren looked at an array of stasis chambers.  
"This was definitely a low-speed transport," Denasha said. "I don't see anything that would indicate a hyperdrive. I'd say this heap could barely touch lightspeed."  
Loren looked closely at one of the stasis tubes. The glass was fogged on the inside so she could barely make out anything. She thought she could see a humanoid through an apparent burn hole. As Denasha inspected another corner of the pod, Loren removed one of her gloves and gingerly touched the glass.  
A flurry of images flashed before her eyes. There was no rhyme or reason to any of it. Most of the images were indistinct, clouded as though not visible through the Force. There were sounds, though, and feelings. Screams. Loren could hear something screaming. Fear. Terror. A monstrous set of glimmering fangs. The smell of acid eating away at something. A horrible warm, moist darkness.  
"Loren!"  
The Padawan pulled her hand away from the pod. She slipped her hand back into her glove as she turned around to face Denasha.  
"Loren, look over here," said the Twi'lek.  
Denasha was crouched in a corner of the pod. Beside her sat several grayish green membranous sacs. Four of them had open flaps at the top revealing the sacs to be empty. There was one sac that still wasn't open. Through its thin sides, Loren could see something moving inside. Denasha touched the pulsing sac.  
"There's nothing," Denasha said. "I don't sense any Force presence at all. I can vaguely pick up on a primitive parasitic instinct but, other than that-"  
Suddenly, the flaps on top of the sac opened up. Inside was a small pulsing creature. Its skin was a sickly shade of pale human flesh. Denasha leaned forward to get a closer look. The creature let out a shrill screech and sprang up out of the sac. It wrapped eight insect-like legs around the Twi'lek's face and slipped its long tail around her neck. Denasha was thrown backward by the impact of the thing colliding with her head.  
Loren looked on in horror as her master fell to the floor and lay still.  
  
A high-pitched scream sounded through the forest. It was accompanied by a ripple of fear in the Force. The Jedi turned and sprinted back to the pod. Chonessinac reached it first. A foul smell wafted out of the pod as he climbed in. Jarrin and Kinon were only a meter or two behind him. Crouched down against the bulkhead was Loren. She was staring across the pod and sobbing quietly. Jarrin and Kinon stepped through the hatch.  
"Loren, what happened?" Kinon asked. "Where's Denasha?"  
Loren only stared and whimpered.  
Jarrin followed Loren's gaze to the other side of the pod. Denasha was lying unconscious on the deck with a sickly pale creature attached to her face.  
"What in the galaxy is that thing?" Jarrin said.  
Kinon reached out to the creature with the Force and felt nothing.  
  
Ortis brought the Crusader back down to the surface of Wayland. The Jedi carried Denasha to the ship's medical bay. She was placed in a quarantine chamber while Ortis scanned her with the ship's medical equipment. He frowned at the readouts.  
"It seems that the creature has connected itself with her respiratory system," Ortis said. "It seems to be breathing for her while it attempts to draw nourishment from her."  
"So it's a parasite?" Jarrin said.  
"That's what's so strange. Her body isn't losing any nutrients. It's as if the parasite can't feed on her."  
"Even so, can we remove the creature?" Kinon said.  
"Oh, we could remove it, all right," Ortis scoffed as he looked over the readouts again, "but it would probably kill her. This indicates that the creature's blood is highly acidic, some sort of defense mechanism it seems. Also, if the creature dies during the process, Denasha's air supply would be cut off. She'd suffocate."  
Jarrin cursed under his breath.  
"All right," he said finally, "We're going back out. Ortis, you keep Denasha and Loren on board and return to orbit. Let's go, Kinon." Kinon and Jarrin turned and left the medical bay. They found Sevi and Nac in the galley trying to comfort the still shaken Loren.  
"Sevi, Nac, were going back out," Jarrin ordered. The Padawan nodded and followed the older Jedi out of the ship and back onto the surface of Wayland. The Crusader rose into the air and soared off back to space.  
"All right," Jarrin said, "let's go."  
  
Pyode Steg'-in inspects the tracks leading to and from the escape pod. There are many tracks of Kainde Amedha as well as many more tracks she is unfamiliar with. He hears something moving through the forest behind her. She springs silently up into a tree to observe. A group of creatures make their way into the clearing. They speak to one another and look around the pod and the clearing. Finally they begin following the Kainde Amedha trail toward the mountain. Pyode Steg'-in cloaks, drops from her hiding place, and follows them. 


End file.
